Originally Posted by Altaflyer
Of course this is just smoke and mirrors as no one is REQUIRED to pass along any costs, AP just choses to charge these fees to us - they are not required to. I am quite certain that someone will pay the airport improvement fees as these are actually paid per passenger (it won't be the traveller). NAV can is just a cost recovery calculation and not a real per person charge levied by that agency.
I guess any company can absorb any cost, and like Jetsgo lose so much money it goes belly up. In the real world, once money has passed between parties in a direct fashion as it now does between Aeroplan and AC for seats [or Air Miles and AC] all taxes and fees kick in. When the value is zero, these do not have to be applied. AIFs are levied on the passenger, not the airline or agent [which Aeroplan and Air Miles are], as are security fees and GST/HST. If you'd also like to repeal the law of gravity, go ahead. I know Ralph and they boys in The Leg do this frequently, then howl like banchees when the courts remind them they cannot really do that. [The Devine Right of Kings was abbrogated by the Magna Carta, a document I am sure most Albertans have never heard of, let alone read.]